Between 2014 and 2020, the new ESPON 2020 Programme will promote and foster a European territorial dimension in development and cooperation by providing evidence, knowledge and policy learning to public authorities and other policy actors at all levels. Financed by the European Regional Development Fund, ESPON 2020 will support the reinforcement of the effectiveness of EU Cohesion Policy and other sectoral policies and programmes under European Structural Investment Funds as well as national and regional territorial development policies through the production, dissemination and promotion of territorial evidence covering the entire territory of the 28 EU Members States and the four partner states of Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. During this lunchtime briefing, representatives of the European Commission's DG for Regional and Urban Policy and of the ESPON 2020 programme will present its possibilities for regional and local authorities and research institutes.

1) How will the ESPON 2020 programme be implemented and how can regions and cities benefit from it?2) What are the main differences compared to the previous programme, the thematic priorities and the key challenges of implementation?3) What are the main ESPON 2020 events and activities planned in 2015 and beyond?

Lunchtime briefings at the CoR provide insights into issues relevant for officials working for regional and local administrations and the offices and representations of regions and member states in Brussels, EU institutions, and colleagues from associations, think-tanks and similar organisations. During the briefings, there are usually two or three contributions of 10-15 minutes each, mostly by Commission colleagues at director or head of unit level, which are followed by a Q+A session of 30 minutes. Briefings can be followed live on the web and presentations and video recordings are made public afterwards. Lunchtime briefings are attended by 50-100 colleagues on average and recordings are looked at up to 800 times.